that "the Prince of
Orange, desiring a more strict alliance with England by marriage with
the Lady Mary, he had consented to it, as a thing he looked on as very
proper to unite the family, and which he believed would be agreeable to
his people, and show them the care he had of religion, for which reason
he thought it the best alliance he could make." When his majesty had
concluded this speech, the Duke of York stepped forward, and declared
his consent to the marriage. He hoped "he had now given a sufficient
testimony of his right intentions for the public good, and that people
would no more say he designed altering the government in church or
state; for whatever his opinion on religion might be, all that he
desired was, that men might not be molested merely for conscience'
sake."

The duke then dined at Whitehall with, the king, the Prince of Orange,
and a noble company; after which he returned to St. James's, where he
then resided. Dr. Edward Luke, at this time tutor to the Lady Mary, and
subsequently Archdeacon of Exeter, in his interesting manuscript diary,
informs us that on reaching the palace, the duke, with great tenderness
and fatherly affection, took his daughter aside, "and told her of the
marriage designed between her and the Prince of Orange; whereupon her
highness wept all that afternoon and the following day." Her tears
had not ceased to flow when, two days after the announcement of her
marriage, Lord Chancellor Finch, on behalf of the council, came to
congratulate her; and Lord Chief Justice Rainsford, on the part of the
judges, complimented her in extravagant terms.

This union, which the bride regarded with so much repugnance, was
appointed to take place on the 4th of November, that date being the
bridegroom's birthday, as likewise the anniversary of his mother's
nativity. Dr. Luke gives a quaint account of the ceremony. "At nine
o'clock at night," he writes, "the marriage was solemnized in her
highness's bedchamber. The king; who gave her away, was very pleasant
all the while; for he desired that the Bishop of London would make haste
lest his sister [the Duchess of York] should be delivered of a son, and
so the marriage be disappointed. And when the prince endowed her with
all his worldly goods [laying gold and silver on the book], he willed to
put all up in her pockett, for 'twas clear gains. At eleven o'clock they
went to bed, when his majesty came and drew the curtains, saying, 'Hey!
St. George fo